2019 marks 50 years since Stonewall, a series of riots that kicked off at the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village in opposition to repeat police raids, harassment and overall criminalization of poor and marginalized queer people who patronized the bar, one of the few establishments where they were welcome[. Stonewall is widely considered an inaugural moment for the broader gay/trans liberation movement, its militancy deemed commensurate with the indignities that sparked it. The riots are commemorated (purportedly) at annual gatherings across the country called “Pride,” which today largely operate as commodified and de-politicized festivals.

For the anti-authoritarian trans/queer critiques of the status quo, demanding that law enforcement and prison industrial complex codependency, should be a given. Especially, in a climate where such nationally securitized crisis rhetoric of more cops equals more freedom, means our premature deaths. Gay Shame would never in a billion years suggest that expelling police and corporations from pride celebrations globally will magically salvage an extensively depoliticized form of sociality. Demanding the expulsion of the police from pride might serve as a decent enough direct material application in the direction of the end of confronting intersectional oppression.

San Francisco Pride, now both an event and a 501(c)(3), the largest source of tourism revenue for the city of San Francisco, the largest public event in the state of California, the largest pride celebration in the world. The defeatist argument pragmatists hastily throw out in defense of the continued presence of law enforcement and corporations is that the sheer size of the public gathering demands police. However this logic and the presence of police belies the very storied object of pride’s commemoration, and is a willful disavowal of what that night in 1969 obviously signified. Stonewall is evidence that through militant collective action we can defend ourselves. While not the birthplace of Stonewall, SF Pride takes place a stone’s throw away from The Tenderloin, where the Compton’s Cafeteria riot took place just years prior to Stonewall. Much like Stonewall, Compton’s riots broke out in response to rampant police harassment of trans women and sex workers in the Tenderloin. The police presence in pride has violently appropriated this legacy in order to position law enforcement as the protectors of the very revelers to whom they (historically have and currently do) direct much of their harassment and violence.

50
years later, not only are police still engaged in (escalating) daily harassment
and violence toward the Tenderloin’s most vulnerable residents, but they are
now welcomed and permitted to partake in Pride — an event whose very legacy
hearkens back to these anti-police violence movements. Communities have not been silent in
opposing the police presence, as well as the corporate and assimilationist
dominance of Pride, with many campaigns, local, and even national through the
years.

There
have been many active organizing efforts over the years to combat Pride’s
blue-washing across the globe. Pride organizers in Auckland, NZ recently
decided that uniformed officers would not be welcome at their upcoming Pride
event, as their presence made march participants feel unsafe. Several cities in
Canada have asked police to withdraw or banned uniformed officers from
marching: Vancouver and Halifax. Toronto temporarily held out a 2-year ban —
hopefully they will re-instate it. The police chief in Minneapolis (in a
self-serving, sanitizing move of course) asked police to refrain from partaking
in Pride in the wake of all the public outrage and tension following Philando
Castile’s murder and in response to organizers asking them to be banned the
prior year.

And
we can too!

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So long as PRIDE™ continues to enable and welcome the presence of the police, we ask that people participate in a complete boycott (physical, financial, cultural, existential) because we refuse to be paraded by cops. A boycott of PRIDE™, for participating individuals and organizations, means:

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· Don’t attend the parade itself, or SF PRIDE™events throughout the month (unless its to directly confront the horror)

· Don’t organize or participate in a parade contingent

· Don’t become a member of SF PRIDE™ or join the Board of Directors

· Don’t marshal (already a militaristic term in itself) the parade or accept any titles, honors or accolades

· Don’t AirBnB with Pride, it leads to the eviction of trans/queer people

List of cities we’ve found so far that currently don’t allow cops (or at least no cops in uniform):

Auckland, New Zealand

London, Ontario

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Toronto, Ontario

Sacramento, California

Calgary, Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta

Gothenburg

Alternative prides that are anti cop and/or anti corporate:

Charlotte, North Carolina

Columbus, Ohio

New Orleans

Pride De Nuit – Paris, Nice, Toulouse, Lyon

Cologne, Germany

Other orgs specifically against corporatization and cops:

Reclaim NYC Pride

No Justice No Pride DC

DON’T KNEEL WITH THE COPS.

SEE ANYTHING YOU LIKE?

GAY SHAME usually meets every Saturday at 6pm at Muddy Waters 521 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110. Located on Valencia really close to 16th, Muddy’s is two blocks from the 16th and Mission BART stop